Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda. Nintendo does. Sorry to disappoint you.
Author's Note: More of the back story in this chapter.
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Ocarina of Time: Rebirth
Chapter Twelve: Gorons- The Mountain Folk
As the eye of Din slowly rose up over Death Mountain, while the rest of Hyrule was asleep and while all of the land was silent. Three young warriors on horseback slowly trotted up the Death Mountain Trail, they had learned that they had to see the apparent leader of the Gorons. They had to be careful of the red spider like creatures that were native to this terrain, although the rock eating Gorons were immune to their venom it could heavily weaken a Hylian to the point of collapse, so they had to be careful. Impa couldn't come with them as she was busy getting supplies ready back in the village, so they would have to try and get the stone themselves for now.
Link Masters followed Zelda who was on her horse, Shimmer, closely as they made their way up the trail. Garen meanwhile was trailing behind, if either of his friends woke one of the monsters he could nail it with his slingshot from back here. It was a good thing he did as he saw one crawling up from behind a rock, he quickly readied his slingshot the seed blazing with energy as it left the sling. Going through the air it made contact blowing the oversized insect apart. Neither Link or Zelda took notice as they had found something.
Kicking Shen, Garen rushed up to meet his friends who had come across something interesting. A very large boulder was blocking the way, and I mean it was huge. Link suddenly noticed a Goron was rolled up in a ball at the entrance, he dismounted Epona moving closer tapping the Goron on the back. It suddenly unrolled into the familiar form of Grant, he looked at Link and frowned "Oh it's the Kokiri boy. This is terrible look at this. We finally managed to move the boulder that was blocking the way. But we turn our backs and this thing is here, it taste horrible we can't eat through this without getting very sick." he explained it was fossilized manure.
Link turned to Zelda who still wasn't recognizable "Whats going on?" he asked simply. Zelda dismounted and walked up to the boulder "The Gorons put a large rock here to keep them from entering, you know incase any of them decide to go against common sense and enter. I'm not sure what the problem is but this is at least five times the size of the original rock. This is no accident." Link nodded as he looked at the massive boulder and angrily kicked it.
Link turned to Grant once again "Grant. We're looking for the Spiritual Stone of Fire. Who should we speak to?" he asked. Grant sighed and pointed further one up the trail "It's on display in the middle of Goron City. You should be able to get to it, this is if somebody hasn't eaten it yet." Link couldn't believe this and quickly mounted his horse kicking for her to move it. Navi jumped to life and flew ahead of them lighting the way. Zelda and Garen quickly followed for fear of the spiritual stone being devoured.
It didn't take them long to find the gigantic cavern that was Goron City, they were quick to tie up their horses and enter the city. The city was pretty big a large cavern that was chewed into the mountain several centuries ago. It had a rather large castle at the north end of the city but suspended in the very center of the city was a platform, that was where the Spiritual Stone was displayed. Link then saw a Goron on the platform and felt his heart sink, the thought of it being eaten. Quickly noticing that there were small bridges that led out there here quickly ran across without noticing that there were no ropes to stop falls.
Link made it none the less leaving Garen and Zelda to breath in relief that he didn't fall. Link could see the imprint of a three toed claw in the display, and saw that there was no stone. He had noticed the same mark on the Goron's arms showing their loyalty to the race so the stone was likely to be the same shape. Suddenly the Goron spoke "Oh did you come out here to eat the delicious looking red stone? Well your too late, it's gone already." Link angrily grabbed the Goron by the arms and threatened to throw him off the edge. The Goron scared spoke "No. It wasn't me. Big Brother Darunia already took it. He lives in the big tower over there. He is after all the mayor of the Gorons. He took it so nobody would eat it." Link released him and apologized.
Garen and Zelda watched as Link carefully crossed the bridge coming back with an annoyed look on his face. Zelda grabbed his arms "What happened? Don't tell me it's been eaten!" she half shouted. Link carefully backed out of her grasp and shook his head "No some guy named, I believe it was Darunia took it. Apparently he knows that it can be used as a snack. But who is Darunia anyway?" Garen crossed his arms showing that he obviously didn't know. Zelda however did.
The princess brushed her hands off on her blue tunic before speaking "Darunia is the basic king of the Gorons. Called by them Big Brother. He is responsible for this kind of stuff, he is also a great warrior as is his brother who is commander of the Goron Army." Zelda pointed to the small castle on the second level that looked like a giant Goron's head. She spoke "He should live there as that is the City Hall and his residence. If we want the stone we should speak with him." Link thought it was a good idea.
Garen headed toward a set of stairs that lead down to the second level as they were on the forth level now "Yeah and we can probably find out just what the hell is going on around here. Like, what is up with all the moans." a Goron near him spoke up as he said this. He barely had the energy to explain "Oh so hungry. If only Dodongo's Cavern was open. We're all starving and fear extinction, because we've become such grommets we can't eat from anywhere else we need help but everybody is too hungry and depressed to do anything." Garen growled as he crossed his arms "Weaklings." he muttered.
Zelda glared at Garen "Depression can be a very powerful thing, Sheikan. And then again this has been going on for the last few weeks." Garen brought a hand to his chin as he heard this "Point taken. But still they should have acted when they still could." Zelda groaned at his opinions, but knew he was right. They soon arrived at the entrance to the tower on the north side of the city, they walked in being stopped by a large stone door that read Darunia's Room. A Goron stood to the side, Garen asked about the spiritual stone. The guard spoke "He took it into his room and said that he would wait for the royal family's messenger." he said as he walked off.
Garen kicked the door cursing under his breath. Zelda suddenly looked at them both with a annoyed look when suddenly Link took out his ocarina. Navi suddenly popped out of Link's hat "Don't you remember. The song Impa taught you is only taught to members of the royal family or their trusted personnel." Garen understood and removed his flute as Zelda stepped back. He played Zelda's Lullaby perfectly hesitating between notes but apparently it was enough for the guy behind the door as it slowly opened.
As they were about to enter Link suddenly called out to them "Hey check it out!" he called. Garen walked over "Now what?" it turned out Link had found an ancient picture on the wall depicting the three staffs and the essense of fire. It seemed that the spear had to be bathed in lava for it to gain this power. It also turned out that the Dodongo's Cavern had many, many lava pools that boiled up from the planet's core. They decided they would take this into account later and turned back to the room and entered.
Link, Garen and the disguised Zelda walked into the room finding a very well built Goron standing before them. This guy was just plain huge and looked like he could easily crush any Hylian with just his hand, this guy had to be Darunia. The office was pretty quaint, a large desk to the right a few empty shelves, but this guy stood in front of a large statue of a Goron and on a carpet that seemed to be pretty worn as if he stood there all day long.
But whoever this guy was he wasn't to pleased to see a trio of pre-teens before him "What the heck? Who are you? When I heard the song of the royal family I expected their messenger, but instead I get a pair of boys and a girl. Have I really lost so much status to be treated like this by my sworn brother, the king?" he bellowed. Link held up his hands in defense as Garen and Zelda wisely stepped back. The Goron looked down at Link "You wanna know why I'm so upset? Ancient creatures have invaded the Dodongo's Cavern. We've had a poor crop of bomb flowers and we are facing extinction. But thats a Goron problem. We don't need help from outsiders." he turned his back on them waving a hand to request them off.
Zelda getting annoyed threw off her cloak revealing her face to the Goron "Listen Darunia. We know your in trouble and have supplies but we can't do this forever. If the trade is to be saved you have to go in and wipe them out." Darunia sighed as he walked from the room shaking his head "You don't understand. My troops are hungry, exhausted and depression has sunk in. We have a plan, but it can't be pulled off without an army. I'm sorry." Darunia leaned back against the wall shaking his head "We have no energy either, twelve years ago my father would have played a song from the forest that brought us all energy, but strangly we do not know it." something suddenly over took Link's senses as he pulled out his ocarina strangly remembering Saria's Song. Navi flew to Link's shoulder nodding her head.
He slowly brought it to his lips and started to play the song which filled Darunia's ears, he felt something melt away in him. His fear and depression as he suddenly began to do something that Zelda never expected to ever see of her father's sworn brother...dance, random dancing, crazy dancing throwing himself all over the place much to the confusion of Garen and Zelda. Darunia hollered as he danced eventually ending with a surprising backflip, the resulting impact shook the whole room. He looked at himself not believing this "What is with that song? Just like that my depression is gone and I'm ready to do this thing."
Link lowered the ocarina speaking "It is a song that a friend taught to me. She hails from Kokiri Forest and this song often fills the Lost Woods." Darunia looked up and snatched the young boy by the arm "Come you must play that again!" Garen and Zelda looked to their friend "Link...." they asked in confusion. But he had already followed the Big Brother of the Gorons.
Darunia was suddenly running out of the tower ringing a large bell that would call all Gorons to the square of the city. As they arrived he spoke "My fellow Gorons, salvation has been sent to us. The Royal Family has brought us a cure to depression and fear. Open your ears and your hearts and listen." he allowed Link to step forward and he sighed bringing the ocarina to his lips hoping his hunch was right. Garen scracted his head "She brought us?" he conplained to himself. Zelda moved toward Garen "What is going on? I've never heard of a song that can soothe depression." Garen looked back at her "That makes two of us." he responded.
Link began to play Saria's Song which echoed through the large cavern that was Goron City. Garen and Zelda watched as the depressed and hungry Gorons began to raise their heads with pride and strength. A green aura began to surround the ocarina eventually traveling up Link's arms covering his entire body. The energy seemed to disipate from the Ocarina and into the air and the Gorons began to react to this strange aura.
The beams began striking the Gorons causing their hunger and fatigue to disappear and they stood proud. Link finished the song as he opened his eyes and gave a small bow. Cheers erupted from the large number of Gorons and Darunia stepped forward looking as several calls came from the crowd "Come on!" one yelled. "War! We need to take down the Dodongos!" another shouted "Yeah what he said!" Grant suddenly yelled something "We shouldn't give into those Gerudos price! Lets go!" Garen suddenly walked to the edge of the platform looking down at the crowd.
Feeling bold, he raised his hands for silence which they did "Gorons. People of Death Mountain. The Royal Family of Hyrule has sent supplies and food to you that are coming as we speak. I know it isn't what your used to but it is the best they could come up with. But to get back to your normal diets you must be brave and take the fight to those monsters!" the crowd cheered in their deep Goron voices. Garen blushed slightly as he normally cracked up with speaches.
Suddenly there was the clapping of Hylian hands and shouts from Hylian lips. They all looked to the entrance to see Impa standing at the entrance followed by at least a dozen carts filled with rocks and boulders. The Gorons all cheered as they were dumped into a large pile. The Gorons began rushing up to the main entrance to get their strength up meanwhile Darunia turned to the trio who had just helped them make a gigantic step toward victory over the Dodongos.
He nodded his head to look at the ground "I don't know how our race can thank you. By playing the legendary song of Saria you have saved us all." Link was shocked explaining to Darunia who taught him the song. Darunia laughed at his confusion "Is that so? Well the name Saria essentially means eternal, in my races old tongue. This song brings sense of justice and survival to the Goron race. As far as legend goes it is an ancient Kokiri song which the Deku Tree sent to my people a generation ago. To this day it gives great courage and strength." Link crossed his arms as he breathed. "The Deku Tree must have placed the song in Saria's mind to write." Darunia nodded "I snuck in and spoke to the tree once in a while, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise. Now I must start planing the battle. Thank you for all your help." he turned from them.
Darunia started to walk away when Link spoke up "Actually you can repay us. We only have one request. But we only need it for a little while." Darunia turned toward them "I am almost ready to give you anything just say it." little did he know that they were asking for the one thing he couldn't possibly give away even after the help they had given them.
"WHAT?!" Darunia threw his head back in surprise "You want the Spiritual Stone of Fire too?!" Darunia bellowed as he was asked, the trio obviously knew this was a big, hell no. Darunia composed himself sorry for yelling "The Spiritual Stone of Fire or the Goron Ruby is our race's hidden treasure. I can't just let you have it." Darunia announced. Link stepped up to the great Goron taking a step toward him showing he was serious "You don't understand, we need that stone. Just for a little while. We'll do anything to posses it." Link pretty much begged.
Darunia sighed as he decided to tell them "You must prove yourselves all allies by going into that cavern with us. You've obviously seen battle and your obviously faster on your feet, you'll be able to take on those lizard knights. But before anything else, we need a plan." Zelda gave Darunia a slight bow as she walked over to him "Show me the maps of the entire mountain and I'm sure we can come up with something. Trust me, as much as my father and Darian have allowed look into ancient battle skimatics I can come up with something better than just charging in." Darunia nodded as he called his attendant telling him to take Zelda to the war room.
Darunia turned back to Link and Garen who stood ready for orders "Okay you help us and I'll allow you to hold the spiritual stone. Go to the General of the army, Daramu. He'll teach you a few useful skills that may help." they nodded and followed a few of the soldiers. "I hope we know what we're doing." he muttered "So do I." Impa muttered as she approuched. Impa looked at him "Why not take your great-grandfather's hammer. It should come in handy." Darunia shook his head saying he didn't think it should be wielded by those not trained for it, plus it was somewhere in the temple in the mountain's crater. Placed away so its powers could not be abused by today's fools.
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Link Masters and Garen Shiekan quickly ran to the Goron Training Ground that was located on the west side of the city. They found another Goron there that bore a resemblance to Darunia that had to be his brother Daramu. As they approached the burly Goron turned to them, they noticed he was holding something in his hand. He looked at them "You two are the Hylian and the Shiekah correct?" they nodded.
Daramu extended his hand and opened it revealing a trio of golden bracelets each with it's own Goron seal. Daramu spoke "These are the Goron Bracelets, they give the wearer great strength. Eventually the power will sink in to the user if they are worn enough." Link took one while Garen took another. They would give the last one to Zelda later on if she was still willing to fight.
Daramu pointed to a small boulder of about his size across from him "Those things not only increase the strength of your fist and arms, but will allow your bones to become as strong as steel. Try it out." Garen looked to the boulder then looked back as he snapped the bracelet on "I can't lift that." he then noticed that Link was missing, Garen turned and watched as he picked up a boulder about his size and threw it against the wall where it shattered into gravel and dust.
Daramu spoke with a laugh "I know what your thinking but don't. Your bones are stronger, but that doesn't mean that you can punch down walls. You'll break your hand. They are stronger so your arms don't break under the weight. There should be other relics such as these in Hyrule, but I'm not sure where they are. You are given the strength of an average Goron right now, but these other relics give a mortal the power to move mountains." Link stretched out smiling "Well that's good enough for me. I'm ready to bust some of these Dodongo things." Garen agreed. They spent the rest of the day sparing and fencing with the Goron soldiers, learning a few intresting skills and moves from them, tomarrow would really pay off for experiance.
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Meanwhile in the war room where the Gorons would plan their attacks while in the midst of a battle or war, Princess Zelda looked over the map of Death Mountain and it didn't take her too long to come up with a strategy. She pointed to the thin layer of rock wall that separated Goron City from Dodongo's Cavern.
She addressed the others "Okay everybody look at these walls. They are weak enough to at least be destroyed by standard bombs. Around these walls we need you to pile up rocks and anything else that will block the Dodongo's advance. You can have your archers and bombers take out them from the high points of the city." the Goron elders and higher ups were impressed with this, they had been planing to break down the walls for the city's next project anyway.
Zelda looked up "And the best thing is when this action is done you can clear these walls and expand the city into the cavern as you planed to before the war a few years ago. That way if this ever happened again, you would be able to stop it before it gets worse." Zelda got an applause for her brilliant plans. After studying the battles of Hyrule's history so much she had a nack for making them work better.
It was true that they wanted to expand the city into the cavern so they could continue to live and not be so crowded like they were now. Zelda pointed to another Goron "Grant, the local bomb shop dealer has agreed to go down to Kakariko and construct a large bomb. We can then place it at the boulder that blocks the way and give an all out attack. This is the best we can do I'm afraid but this isn't the time to not take risk." everybody agreed and the plan was set in motion. Tomorrow would decide the rise or fall of the Goron race.
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Next Chapter: The Dodongos Cavern
The army of Goron City attacks the cavern straight forward. While this happens Gannondorf puts his plan in motion to collect the Triforce, but is obviously pissed when he hears the news of the Gorons and the attack.
Author's Note: More of the back story in this chapter.
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Ocarina of Time: Rebirth
Chapter Twelve: Gorons- The Mountain Folk
As the eye of Din slowly rose up over Death Mountain, while the rest of Hyrule was asleep and while all of the land was silent. Three young warriors on horseback slowly trotted up the Death Mountain Trail, they had learned that they had to see the apparent leader of the Gorons. They had to be careful of the red spider like creatures that were native to this terrain, although the rock eating Gorons were immune to their venom it could heavily weaken a Hylian to the point of collapse, so they had to be careful. Impa couldn't come with them as she was busy getting supplies ready back in the village, so they would have to try and get the stone themselves for now.
Link Masters followed Zelda who was on her horse, Shimmer, closely as they made their way up the trail. Garen meanwhile was trailing behind, if either of his friends woke one of the monsters he could nail it with his slingshot from back here. It was a good thing he did as he saw one crawling up from behind a rock, he quickly readied his slingshot the seed blazing with energy as it left the sling. Going through the air it made contact blowing the oversized insect apart. Neither Link or Zelda took notice as they had found something.
Kicking Shen, Garen rushed up to meet his friends who had come across something interesting. A very large boulder was blocking the way, and I mean it was huge. Link suddenly noticed a Goron was rolled up in a ball at the entrance, he dismounted Epona moving closer tapping the Goron on the back. It suddenly unrolled into the familiar form of Grant, he looked at Link and frowned "Oh it's the Kokiri boy. This is terrible look at this. We finally managed to move the boulder that was blocking the way. But we turn our backs and this thing is here, it taste horrible we can't eat through this without getting very sick." he explained it was fossilized manure.
Link turned to Zelda who still wasn't recognizable "Whats going on?" he asked simply. Zelda dismounted and walked up to the boulder "The Gorons put a large rock here to keep them from entering, you know incase any of them decide to go against common sense and enter. I'm not sure what the problem is but this is at least five times the size of the original rock. This is no accident." Link nodded as he looked at the massive boulder and angrily kicked it.
Link turned to Grant once again "Grant. We're looking for the Spiritual Stone of Fire. Who should we speak to?" he asked. Grant sighed and pointed further one up the trail "It's on display in the middle of Goron City. You should be able to get to it, this is if somebody hasn't eaten it yet." Link couldn't believe this and quickly mounted his horse kicking for her to move it. Navi jumped to life and flew ahead of them lighting the way. Zelda and Garen quickly followed for fear of the spiritual stone being devoured.
It didn't take them long to find the gigantic cavern that was Goron City, they were quick to tie up their horses and enter the city. The city was pretty big a large cavern that was chewed into the mountain several centuries ago. It had a rather large castle at the north end of the city but suspended in the very center of the city was a platform, that was where the Spiritual Stone was displayed. Link then saw a Goron on the platform and felt his heart sink, the thought of it being eaten. Quickly noticing that there were small bridges that led out there here quickly ran across without noticing that there were no ropes to stop falls.
Link made it none the less leaving Garen and Zelda to breath in relief that he didn't fall. Link could see the imprint of a three toed claw in the display, and saw that there was no stone. He had noticed the same mark on the Goron's arms showing their loyalty to the race so the stone was likely to be the same shape. Suddenly the Goron spoke "Oh did you come out here to eat the delicious looking red stone? Well your too late, it's gone already." Link angrily grabbed the Goron by the arms and threatened to throw him off the edge. The Goron scared spoke "No. It wasn't me. Big Brother Darunia already took it. He lives in the big tower over there. He is after all the mayor of the Gorons. He took it so nobody would eat it." Link released him and apologized.
Garen and Zelda watched as Link carefully crossed the bridge coming back with an annoyed look on his face. Zelda grabbed his arms "What happened? Don't tell me it's been eaten!" she half shouted. Link carefully backed out of her grasp and shook his head "No some guy named, I believe it was Darunia took it. Apparently he knows that it can be used as a snack. But who is Darunia anyway?" Garen crossed his arms showing that he obviously didn't know. Zelda however did.
The princess brushed her hands off on her blue tunic before speaking "Darunia is the basic king of the Gorons. Called by them Big Brother. He is responsible for this kind of stuff, he is also a great warrior as is his brother who is commander of the Goron Army." Zelda pointed to the small castle on the second level that looked like a giant Goron's head. She spoke "He should live there as that is the City Hall and his residence. If we want the stone we should speak with him." Link thought it was a good idea.
Garen headed toward a set of stairs that lead down to the second level as they were on the forth level now "Yeah and we can probably find out just what the hell is going on around here. Like, what is up with all the moans." a Goron near him spoke up as he said this. He barely had the energy to explain "Oh so hungry. If only Dodongo's Cavern was open. We're all starving and fear extinction, because we've become such grommets we can't eat from anywhere else we need help but everybody is too hungry and depressed to do anything." Garen growled as he crossed his arms "Weaklings." he muttered.
Zelda glared at Garen "Depression can be a very powerful thing, Sheikan. And then again this has been going on for the last few weeks." Garen brought a hand to his chin as he heard this "Point taken. But still they should have acted when they still could." Zelda groaned at his opinions, but knew he was right. They soon arrived at the entrance to the tower on the north side of the city, they walked in being stopped by a large stone door that read Darunia's Room. A Goron stood to the side, Garen asked about the spiritual stone. The guard spoke "He took it into his room and said that he would wait for the royal family's messenger." he said as he walked off.
Garen kicked the door cursing under his breath. Zelda suddenly looked at them both with a annoyed look when suddenly Link took out his ocarina. Navi suddenly popped out of Link's hat "Don't you remember. The song Impa taught you is only taught to members of the royal family or their trusted personnel." Garen understood and removed his flute as Zelda stepped back. He played Zelda's Lullaby perfectly hesitating between notes but apparently it was enough for the guy behind the door as it slowly opened.
As they were about to enter Link suddenly called out to them "Hey check it out!" he called. Garen walked over "Now what?" it turned out Link had found an ancient picture on the wall depicting the three staffs and the essense of fire. It seemed that the spear had to be bathed in lava for it to gain this power. It also turned out that the Dodongo's Cavern had many, many lava pools that boiled up from the planet's core. They decided they would take this into account later and turned back to the room and entered.
Link, Garen and the disguised Zelda walked into the room finding a very well built Goron standing before them. This guy was just plain huge and looked like he could easily crush any Hylian with just his hand, this guy had to be Darunia. The office was pretty quaint, a large desk to the right a few empty shelves, but this guy stood in front of a large statue of a Goron and on a carpet that seemed to be pretty worn as if he stood there all day long.
But whoever this guy was he wasn't to pleased to see a trio of pre-teens before him "What the heck? Who are you? When I heard the song of the royal family I expected their messenger, but instead I get a pair of boys and a girl. Have I really lost so much status to be treated like this by my sworn brother, the king?" he bellowed. Link held up his hands in defense as Garen and Zelda wisely stepped back. The Goron looked down at Link "You wanna know why I'm so upset? Ancient creatures have invaded the Dodongo's Cavern. We've had a poor crop of bomb flowers and we are facing extinction. But thats a Goron problem. We don't need help from outsiders." he turned his back on them waving a hand to request them off.
Zelda getting annoyed threw off her cloak revealing her face to the Goron "Listen Darunia. We know your in trouble and have supplies but we can't do this forever. If the trade is to be saved you have to go in and wipe them out." Darunia sighed as he walked from the room shaking his head "You don't understand. My troops are hungry, exhausted and depression has sunk in. We have a plan, but it can't be pulled off without an army. I'm sorry." Darunia leaned back against the wall shaking his head "We have no energy either, twelve years ago my father would have played a song from the forest that brought us all energy, but strangly we do not know it." something suddenly over took Link's senses as he pulled out his ocarina strangly remembering Saria's Song. Navi flew to Link's shoulder nodding her head.
He slowly brought it to his lips and started to play the song which filled Darunia's ears, he felt something melt away in him. His fear and depression as he suddenly began to do something that Zelda never expected to ever see of her father's sworn brother...dance, random dancing, crazy dancing throwing himself all over the place much to the confusion of Garen and Zelda. Darunia hollered as he danced eventually ending with a surprising backflip, the resulting impact shook the whole room. He looked at himself not believing this "What is with that song? Just like that my depression is gone and I'm ready to do this thing."
Link lowered the ocarina speaking "It is a song that a friend taught to me. She hails from Kokiri Forest and this song often fills the Lost Woods." Darunia looked up and snatched the young boy by the arm "Come you must play that again!" Garen and Zelda looked to their friend "Link...." they asked in confusion. But he had already followed the Big Brother of the Gorons.
Darunia was suddenly running out of the tower ringing a large bell that would call all Gorons to the square of the city. As they arrived he spoke "My fellow Gorons, salvation has been sent to us. The Royal Family has brought us a cure to depression and fear. Open your ears and your hearts and listen." he allowed Link to step forward and he sighed bringing the ocarina to his lips hoping his hunch was right. Garen scracted his head "She brought us?" he conplained to himself. Zelda moved toward Garen "What is going on? I've never heard of a song that can soothe depression." Garen looked back at her "That makes two of us." he responded.
Link began to play Saria's Song which echoed through the large cavern that was Goron City. Garen and Zelda watched as the depressed and hungry Gorons began to raise their heads with pride and strength. A green aura began to surround the ocarina eventually traveling up Link's arms covering his entire body. The energy seemed to disipate from the Ocarina and into the air and the Gorons began to react to this strange aura.
The beams began striking the Gorons causing their hunger and fatigue to disappear and they stood proud. Link finished the song as he opened his eyes and gave a small bow. Cheers erupted from the large number of Gorons and Darunia stepped forward looking as several calls came from the crowd "Come on!" one yelled. "War! We need to take down the Dodongos!" another shouted "Yeah what he said!" Grant suddenly yelled something "We shouldn't give into those Gerudos price! Lets go!" Garen suddenly walked to the edge of the platform looking down at the crowd.
Feeling bold, he raised his hands for silence which they did "Gorons. People of Death Mountain. The Royal Family of Hyrule has sent supplies and food to you that are coming as we speak. I know it isn't what your used to but it is the best they could come up with. But to get back to your normal diets you must be brave and take the fight to those monsters!" the crowd cheered in their deep Goron voices. Garen blushed slightly as he normally cracked up with speaches.
Suddenly there was the clapping of Hylian hands and shouts from Hylian lips. They all looked to the entrance to see Impa standing at the entrance followed by at least a dozen carts filled with rocks and boulders. The Gorons all cheered as they were dumped into a large pile. The Gorons began rushing up to the main entrance to get their strength up meanwhile Darunia turned to the trio who had just helped them make a gigantic step toward victory over the Dodongos.
He nodded his head to look at the ground "I don't know how our race can thank you. By playing the legendary song of Saria you have saved us all." Link was shocked explaining to Darunia who taught him the song. Darunia laughed at his confusion "Is that so? Well the name Saria essentially means eternal, in my races old tongue. This song brings sense of justice and survival to the Goron race. As far as legend goes it is an ancient Kokiri song which the Deku Tree sent to my people a generation ago. To this day it gives great courage and strength." Link crossed his arms as he breathed. "The Deku Tree must have placed the song in Saria's mind to write." Darunia nodded "I snuck in and spoke to the tree once in a while, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise. Now I must start planing the battle. Thank you for all your help." he turned from them.
Darunia started to walk away when Link spoke up "Actually you can repay us. We only have one request. But we only need it for a little while." Darunia turned toward them "I am almost ready to give you anything just say it." little did he know that they were asking for the one thing he couldn't possibly give away even after the help they had given them.
"WHAT?!" Darunia threw his head back in surprise "You want the Spiritual Stone of Fire too?!" Darunia bellowed as he was asked, the trio obviously knew this was a big, hell no. Darunia composed himself sorry for yelling "The Spiritual Stone of Fire or the Goron Ruby is our race's hidden treasure. I can't just let you have it." Darunia announced. Link stepped up to the great Goron taking a step toward him showing he was serious "You don't understand, we need that stone. Just for a little while. We'll do anything to posses it." Link pretty much begged.
Darunia sighed as he decided to tell them "You must prove yourselves all allies by going into that cavern with us. You've obviously seen battle and your obviously faster on your feet, you'll be able to take on those lizard knights. But before anything else, we need a plan." Zelda gave Darunia a slight bow as she walked over to him "Show me the maps of the entire mountain and I'm sure we can come up with something. Trust me, as much as my father and Darian have allowed look into ancient battle skimatics I can come up with something better than just charging in." Darunia nodded as he called his attendant telling him to take Zelda to the war room.
Darunia turned back to Link and Garen who stood ready for orders "Okay you help us and I'll allow you to hold the spiritual stone. Go to the General of the army, Daramu. He'll teach you a few useful skills that may help." they nodded and followed a few of the soldiers. "I hope we know what we're doing." he muttered "So do I." Impa muttered as she approuched. Impa looked at him "Why not take your great-grandfather's hammer. It should come in handy." Darunia shook his head saying he didn't think it should be wielded by those not trained for it, plus it was somewhere in the temple in the mountain's crater. Placed away so its powers could not be abused by today's fools.
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Link Masters and Garen Shiekan quickly ran to the Goron Training Ground that was located on the west side of the city. They found another Goron there that bore a resemblance to Darunia that had to be his brother Daramu. As they approached the burly Goron turned to them, they noticed he was holding something in his hand. He looked at them "You two are the Hylian and the Shiekah correct?" they nodded.
Daramu extended his hand and opened it revealing a trio of golden bracelets each with it's own Goron seal. Daramu spoke "These are the Goron Bracelets, they give the wearer great strength. Eventually the power will sink in to the user if they are worn enough." Link took one while Garen took another. They would give the last one to Zelda later on if she was still willing to fight.
Daramu pointed to a small boulder of about his size across from him "Those things not only increase the strength of your fist and arms, but will allow your bones to become as strong as steel. Try it out." Garen looked to the boulder then looked back as he snapped the bracelet on "I can't lift that." he then noticed that Link was missing, Garen turned and watched as he picked up a boulder about his size and threw it against the wall where it shattered into gravel and dust.
Daramu spoke with a laugh "I know what your thinking but don't. Your bones are stronger, but that doesn't mean that you can punch down walls. You'll break your hand. They are stronger so your arms don't break under the weight. There should be other relics such as these in Hyrule, but I'm not sure where they are. You are given the strength of an average Goron right now, but these other relics give a mortal the power to move mountains." Link stretched out smiling "Well that's good enough for me. I'm ready to bust some of these Dodongo things." Garen agreed. They spent the rest of the day sparing and fencing with the Goron soldiers, learning a few intresting skills and moves from them, tomarrow would really pay off for experiance.
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Meanwhile in the war room where the Gorons would plan their attacks while in the midst of a battle or war, Princess Zelda looked over the map of Death Mountain and it didn't take her too long to come up with a strategy. She pointed to the thin layer of rock wall that separated Goron City from Dodongo's Cavern.
She addressed the others "Okay everybody look at these walls. They are weak enough to at least be destroyed by standard bombs. Around these walls we need you to pile up rocks and anything else that will block the Dodongo's advance. You can have your archers and bombers take out them from the high points of the city." the Goron elders and higher ups were impressed with this, they had been planing to break down the walls for the city's next project anyway.
Zelda looked up "And the best thing is when this action is done you can clear these walls and expand the city into the cavern as you planed to before the war a few years ago. That way if this ever happened again, you would be able to stop it before it gets worse." Zelda got an applause for her brilliant plans. After studying the battles of Hyrule's history so much she had a nack for making them work better.
It was true that they wanted to expand the city into the cavern so they could continue to live and not be so crowded like they were now. Zelda pointed to another Goron "Grant, the local bomb shop dealer has agreed to go down to Kakariko and construct a large bomb. We can then place it at the boulder that blocks the way and give an all out attack. This is the best we can do I'm afraid but this isn't the time to not take risk." everybody agreed and the plan was set in motion. Tomorrow would decide the rise or fall of the Goron race.
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Next Chapter: The Dodongos Cavern
The army of Goron City attacks the cavern straight forward. While this happens Gannondorf puts his plan in motion to collect the Triforce, but is obviously pissed when he hears the news of the Gorons and the attack.